ebay

When I built my SS 2nd Hand Smoke I had no clue what I was doing. It has taken me 4 months of tuning to make it a contender in SS novice.

My eliminator Psycho needs a lot of work to make it competive.

I enjoy the prep work to try and go faster each month.
 
I was savings this to race for pinks, but it seems now I can sell it for money (maybe $100 for this budget-minded model); it just needs a little TLC.

PWD_Police_Car_zpsf91aa2e0.jpg


1st in pack (2012)
2nd in district (2012)
9th in council (2012)
* all BSA using axle slots

Emmmmmmmmm', tasty!
 
Well I have to agree with Zeeb....But I will be the first to say Yes I did buy my first cars. I was fast finishing well. But, then I realized that if I wanted to learn this sport I had to start building and learning on my own. I had a great mentor helping me out. When I started I slow and now this will be 2nd race doing everything on my own. 3 of the cars I am racing are leftover from my first cars the rest are new builds. To my mentor thanks for helping me out you are a great guy. Don't know if any of this makes sense but my 2 cents.
 
Ickabod Crane said:
I've often thought of buying a completely full blown racer by DD4H just to see what kind of time it would turn on my test track. I could then use it to measure my progress as a builder and have a target. I would never use it to race. I love building these little rockets.
I did exactly that recently, though I have not received it yet. My plans are build the car and prep it and record the times, comparing it to the cars I have built. Then I plan on swapping parts (e.g. replacing my axles with those I purchased) to determine where I need to improvement. I am also planning to compare my method of drilling axles holes vs. the car I bought from DD4H using DD4H's axles and wheels - no how good my preparation is, if my alignment is bad, the car will not be fast.

Purchased the 5Kids body style block, pre-drilled
The Dynasty 92 BSA Axles with a Point
The Dynasty Nitro Wheels

It cost in the neighborhood of $100 including weight, but compared to some of the useless cr*p I have already purchased from DW, its a deal. I'll soon know my weaknesses...
 
I never understood the purpose/reason behind buying a car. I understand your logic, but your baseline is someone else's build and skill. So when you build your "first" car you're basing it off your bought car. What if you messed something up on the purchased build, then your first build ran faster? Would you know what to fix? I just disagree with not building your own car and don't see the purpose. I know some ppl want to buy the car and race it. The purpose behind this? You'll have to ask them. Ask anyone on here though. No one started off winning after one build. It takes time. Not to mention, how would you feel free if you won with your car, your prep and your "secrets"? I'll tell you Sunday /images/boards/smilies/wink.gif
 
Is this the official flogging thread? You guys are being pretty harsh. If you don't want to buy it, don't! If you can build a better car, build it, some can't. You all realize this is one of our own guys, right? He chose to sell it at a different venue and that's cool. If someone wants to buy it good for them! However, if you buy a pro built car you should not be racing Novice or Amateur, you race Pro. Just my two cents. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif
 
I'm not offended (and I hope I'm not being offensive). I need you guys to keep me on my toes. That's what I pay you for...

I guess the idea for me is to understand what is a fast car. Of course my prep will always be suspect, but the intent is not to race that car. I could send a car in, which at some point, I would like to do so, but with the test track, I have already gained a significant amount of speed. So my question is in my build, how much more speed do I get if I used DD4H wheels as compared to my own? How much more speed do I get if I used DD4H axles as compared to my own? Are my blocks drilled horribly wrong? Simply racing will not give me that information, and certainly not against scouts - and I'm at the mercy of the sometimes unstable postal worker for races like mid-America and the NPWDRL. So, this is my way of judging my progress - its not about racing another's car, but more of getting a good look at components of a fast car and comparing them to my own.
 
Kinser Racing said:
Is this the official flogging thread? You guys are being pretty harsh. If you don't want to buy it, don't! If you can build a better car, build it, some can't. You all realize this is one of our own guys, right? He chose to sell it at a different venue and that's cool. If someone wants to buy it good for them! However, if you buy a pro built car you should not be racing Novice or Amateur, you race Pro. Just my two cents. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

+1. Well said.
 
There are plenty of "pro" built cars for sale on ebay or amazon...what caught my attention was the price and the use of NPWDRL.
When people sell there care here,it's kinda like carfax. You know who built it,the name of the car so you can watch how it raced.

Not having the benefit of living near a whole group of top builders, i see why someone would buy one to compare,examine,reverse engingeer.
 
Kinser Racing said:
Is this the official flogging thread? You guys are being pretty harsh. If you don't want to buy it, don't! If you can build a better car, build it, some can't. You all realize this is one of our own guys, right? He chose to sell it at a different venue and that's cool. If someone wants to buy it good for them! However, if you buy a pro built car you should not be racing Novice or Amateur, you race Pro. Just my two cents. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

So if you buy my car you'd race novice? I know you'd never buy my treadmill tuned car, but I get what you're saying and agree. Sadly, it's hard to govern as you don't know they bought a JBD car until race day. So do you say race it again and it's going pro?
 
ODD, don't forget that even if a guy buys a pro built and tuned SS car, it's only going to be fast until it comes time for a reprep. If the racer doesn't know how to do the prep well, it's going to drop off.
 
Good discussion about the pre-built cars.

I liked last year's format for Street Stock with the time break to determine the Pro Class cars.

Sub 2.98 seconds was the time break. I thought it should have been sub 2.97, but regardless, I think the time break is a great way of separating the classes and it forces the pre-built cars into the proper class based on the times the car is capable of running regardless of who built it, prepped it, or tuned it.

It will be interesting to see how many Novice and Amateur guys move up for the Nationals.
 
Kinser Racing said:
Is this the official flogging thread? You guys are being pretty harsh. If you don't want to buy it, don't! If you can build a better car, build it, some can't. You all realize this is one of our own guys, right? He chose to sell it at a different venue and that's cool. If someone wants to buy it good for them! However, if you buy a pro built car you should not be racing Novice or Amateur, you race Pro. Just my two cents. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif

Not knocking the guy for selling it. If he can get that much, good for him. I'm knocking the guy who buys it, then races it. He shouldn't race pro...he should race in the buyers class and let us builders race in the builders class.
 
Not his/her fault they can't build but want to race competitively. Either way you still have to beat that car whether they race it or the owner does. And BT I agree with, reprep will change everything, but if they are already ahead by 20 pts, it'll be hard to catch them
 
bracketracer said:
ODD, don't forget that even if a guy buys a pro built and tuned SS car, it's only going to be fast until it comes time for a reprep. If the racer doesn't know how to do the prep well, it's going to drop off.

+1
 
zeebzob said:
Kinser Racing said:
Is this the official flogging thread? You guys are being pretty harsh. If you don't want to buy it, don't! If you can build a better car, build it, some can't. You all realize this is one of our own guys, right? He chose to sell it at a different venue and that's cool. If someone wants to buy it good for them! However, if you buy a pro built car you should not be racing Novice or Amateur, you race Pro. Just my two cents. /images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif
Not knocking the guy for selling it. If he can get that much, good for him. I'm knocking the guy who buys it, then races it. He shouldn't race pro...he should race in the buyers class and let us builders race in the builders class.

+1 perhaps -1
 
Ickabod Crane said:
I've often thought of buying a completely full blown racer by DD4H just to see what kind of time it would turn on my test track. I could then use it to measure my progress as a builder and have a target. I would never use it to race. I love building these little rockets.

+1
 
Obsessedderbydad said:
I think JBD will cut you a deal on one if you're interested. Ask FW how much they are.

I can see that you are a trouble maker too.